Swimming like a box turtle

     Today I was out by our saltwater pool, checking the temperature under the warming blanket to see if it was warm enough to swim and I saw a dark spot bobbing under the blue bubble wrap cover.  I lifted it and saw a box turtle, treading water for dear life.  When he saw me he couldn't figure out whether he should keep paddling or if he should duck and cover. The effect was quite comical. Now, remember, box turtles live on land and their stubby little feet aren't wide and webbed like their cousins, the snapping turtle, so he was bobbing around like a buoy because box turtles don't sink, especially in salt water.   I'm not sure if I saw panic or annoyance in those rust colored eyes.  I scooped up the little fellow and laid him gently down in the woods out back and he plodded safely away to hide under some brush.


    I'm not sure how or why that box turtle got over the 3 foot brick wall and into our pool without cracking his shell or how he ended up in the shallow end of our pool, but I am glad I was there at that moment to save him from being a permanent floater under the warming blanket on our pool.  I'm sure that box turtle was one of the two camped out at our fence a few days ago waiting out the recent rainstorms. Funny that our hill would bring the thing he was trying to avoid, high water.  You see box turtles, unlike their water loving cousins, snapping turtles or red eared turtles, head for the hills when the barometer drops. That's a surer way to tell than watching the weather channel, if you see box turtles heading for high ground, some rough weather is coming.


      We live on the top of a hill on the outskirts of a nice wooded area so we get lots of little shelled visitors when the weather starts looking bad. And I pay attention to the lessons that they teach me when they do stop by:
 1) If it looks like rain, head for high ground. In other words, if your gut tells you something is up, listen to it.
 2) Even though at first glance we might look like we can handle things ourselves, it never hurts to have a little help when we run into obstacles.
So be prepare for what the future holds, but let others help when things get difficult or offer your own help to them if you see someone trying to keep their head above water.
And if all else fails? Hide in your shell til its all over!

This little guy (maybe the same from the pool?) wandered into our garage before all the horrid thunderstorms that caused massive flooding around our area this spring, we fed him a tomato, which he devoured, then he went on his merry way